This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

The Never-Trump forces were dealt a setback Monday afternoon, but efforts are still underway to throw a Hail Mary with a slim hope of derailing Donald Trump's nomination.

The committee that sets the rules for the 2016 convention formally adopted the rules, that do not include a provision backed by anti-Trump delegates that would "unbind" the delegates and let them potentially vote for another candidate.

Former Utah Congresswoman Enid Mickelsen, who chaired the Rules Committee, ruled out of order an attempt to force more debate on the rules, which were debated over the course of several days last week.

The rules were then adopted by the committee by voice vote, with a substantial majority of the committee supporting the measures.

Efforts are still underway to force a floor vote on the rules and Utah Sen. Mike Lee said he wants to see that come to fruition.

"This is a grassroots effort from a whole bunch of states," Lee said. "We're not talking about a small handful of delegates who feel this way or a small handful of members of the rules committee who are dissatisfied with the rules. We're talking about what I understand to be many hundreds."

Mickelsen said it would have been a mistake to adopt a conscience clause because it would have essentially wiped out the results of all of the state presidential primaries, leaving it to the delegates instead of the voters to pick the party's nominee.

"The conscience clause was a move to turn everyone into super delegates," she said, referring to the Democratic Party officials who get special consideration in choosing the Democratic nominee.

"We don't believe in super delegates. So to take all of that away from all those millions of people who voted and put it in the hands of a few hundred people who didn't like the outcome, that would not have been right," Mickelsen said.

Mickelsen's rules co-chairman said that "We spent 150 years getting away from smoke-filled rooms and they're going back to it."

Mickelsen said she's happy the rules committee squabbling is over and she believes it was a fair process and that the vast majority of the committee members are satisfied with the product.

"This committee has had way too much attention for the last couple of weeks," Mickelsen said.

She said having to referee the rules fight didn't really take a toll — aside from having to stand at a podium for a 16-hour meeting.

"I knew that I was going to be fair, so all the other stuff swirling around, it isn't the first time people have said not very nice things about me. That's alright," she said.

— Robert Gehrke